O0 Nice to see that members of the 1st Ghost did thier duty!!! Keep it up!
2 members at least
cool,,, maybe it's just the beginning for them
Very good as always. I like how you do not over emphasis the combat scenes.
I write them as I see them, sometimes they go on a bit I think
First Annual Race of Noisiel
Southern Continent, Noisiel
Alarion Province, Lyran Commonwealth
3rd October 3085 On screens broadcast across Noisel Duke Michael Alextep spoke at the beginning of the first ever BattleMech Race of Noisiel. “Ladies and Gentlemen be prepared for a grand display of piloting skill and weapons marksmanship. There are twelve competitors within this race each commanding the power of an Assault BattleMech. Their goal is to reach the finish line before all others, but they will have to contend with the boiling plains” he said as a camera panned over a desolate region “the Triplet Rivers of Noisiel” the camera image now changed to show three rapidly moving rivers converging into a larger more potent river “and the specially built towns of Alextep Major and Alextep Minor” he announced the cameras showing dozens of buildings arranged in the pattern of two disorganized towns, these buildings were not real homes or businesses instead built for the crowds enjoyment. “Like the games of Solaris there is one obstacle they will all have to face every step of the way – Each other – none of the weapons of these games have been disabled everyone is able to attack each other but warriors be warned if you decide to remain here and fight very soon your last obstacle will arrive” The Duke said as from behind him on the camera two massive hulking Battle Armour suits walked into camera shot “Allow me to introduce The Gorillas!” He said both suits were the same painted black and grey they were both built like the massive Terran primates they were named after but both hands ended with Battle Claws capable of tearing apart BattleMech levels of armour while their mounted machine guns and anti-personnel weapons could worry warriors further. The Duke had hired the Battle Armour Regiment known by the same name as their unique Battle Armour suit specifically to ensure the race did not turn into a standing battle, they were under orders to keep the battle moving forward towards the exit threatening the Mechs but only taking them out if they threatened the Battle Armour troopers directly.
On the starting line was twelve Assault BattleMechs from around the Inner Sphere over one thousand tons of armoured giants each Mech was about thirty metres apart. Any military unit in the entire Inner Sphere would be overjoyed to have in their TO&E first was long time king of the assault class a recent model AS7-S2 Atlas, beside it was an eighty-five ton Black Watch OmniMech produced on Northwind, next a Combine built Mauler, then a Liao built Emperor which was followed by a pair of Lyran built Mechs a one hundred ton Fafnir and a ninety-five ton Hauptmann OmniMech. Next was a Word of Blake era Grand Crusader followed by a Star League manufactured ninety-five ton Highlander BattleMech. Beside the Grand Crusader was a trio of Federated Suns designs an eighty-five ton Hanse BattleMech, a ninty-five ton Sagittaire and an eighty-five ton Templar OmniMech. Finally there was an eighty-five ton Zeus an assault Mech that was as Lyran as any other in the world.
“Ladies and gentlemen you all do the Alextep family honour by your attendance today. I wish you all the best of luck” Duke Alextep said into the communications circuit. Raising his hand to the control switch he changed the controls and pressed the fire button. All around the starting line fireworks went off signifying the start of the race. Almost immediately the Highlander turned on the Grand Crusader and fired a salvo of medium pulse laser and short range missile fire into the Mech. The Templar, Hanse and Zeus all accelerated quickly ahead of the others using their superior speed to gain an advantage straight away, a double Heavy Gauss Rifle from the stationary Fafnir tore apart the Hanse blowing through the rear armour of the eighty-five ton BattleMech. Immediately the Mech fell forward smashing into the ground face first down and probably out.
Leaping into the air and to the right the Highlander began to make some distance between the others with the damaged Grand Crusader trying to follow it. The Sagittaire appeared to completely disappear as it activated its Void Signature System, the adaptive armour system mimicking the surroundings behind it. The Atlas completely ignoring all others charged forward trying to escape the bloodbath of the beginning quickly the Mech was caught by the Zeus which engaged it with LRM and laser fire, the larger Mech shrugging off most of the damage from the weapons fire.
Still standing where it had started the Fafnir twisted its torso like a standing turret and fired two more Heavy Gauss Rifle slugs into its new target this time the already damaged Grand Crusader. The other one hundred ton Mech chasing down the still jumping Highlander took one slug in the arm but the second went high and missed. Turning the BattleMech the Fafnir pilot lined up two more shots ready to make the killing blow unfortunately the pilot was not paying attention to the group of Battle Armour that had joined the race. Four Gorilla suits swarmed the Fafnir causing the pilot far more trouble than the other BattleMechs. Elsewhere a squad of Elemental Battle Armour suits had reached the downed Hanse and secured the downed assault BattleMech.
Far ahead of these actions the Highlander, Templar, Atlas, Hauptmann, Zeus, Black Watch and Sagittaire had reached the Triplet Rivers. The three Jump Jet equipped Mechs, the Highlander, Templar and Sagittaire, all launched into the air crossing the first river as the Atlas, Hauptmann, Black Watch and Zeus waded into the water. Seeing that their opponents were gaining ground on them the Black Watch raised its arm and fired its arm mounted assault Ultra Autocannon into the side of the Hauptmann. At the same time the pilot made a physical attack with its arm mounted retractable blade crashing down on the Zeus severing one of the Mech’s arms.
This brief combat had slowed the leaders slightly the Emperor, Mauler and Grand Crusader all reached the water. The Emperor was a jump jet equipped Mech launching into the air while the Grand Crusader waded into the water firing weapons at the other engaged Mechs. The Mauler stood on the edge of the water firing autocannon and particle cannon fire into its opponents targeting first the Black Watch and then the Hauptmann. The two other pilots partially submerged by water were harder to hit but the Mauler was still an easy target. Both Black Watch and Hauptmann pilots turned on the Mauler with autocannon, gauss rifle and plasma rifle fire, the massive amount of fire on one target was too much even for the Mauler pilot to handle. Staggering backwards the Mech fell to the ground disabled at least for now.
Up ahead the initial jumping group of Mechs continued to pull out a lead over the others crossing the third river they all broke into a run. So far all three had avoided firing at each other keeping this as a clean race. In the middle river the Grand Crusader and Emperor pilots engaged in a titanic dual as one pilot crossed the others path. The lighter Emperor coming off worse than the larger Word of Blake design as the two pilots seemed to forget they were in a race.
Pulling his Mech back to its feet the Mauler pilot began to wade into the water chasing the other Mechs it had fallen behind the others by a fair margin. As the Mech reached the bottom of the river Battle Armour troopers of the Gorillas swarmed the Mauler, the Mech pilot obviously not experienced to Battle Armour attacks panicked and ejected from his Mech reducing the active Mechs to nine.
The field started to spread out a bit as the jump jet equipped Mechs who had led from the start reached the forested area. The Atlas, Hauptman and Zeus waded out of the water followed by the Black Watch. Finally the Emperor and Grand Crusader exited the water still fighting their own battle. Around them Battle Armour suits caught up with the two dueling Mechs and swarmed them both bringing down two more of the racers. The Highlander, Sagittaire and Templar began to wade through the trees smashing their way clear using their jump jets to clear some of the smaller trees but for the most part they were restricted to the ground allowing the chasing pack to catch up with them firing weapons as they arrived.
Weapons being discharged in a forested area led to one thing as stray weapons fire smashed into the trees a small fire spawned many others as the entire forest began to burn. Each of the Mechs turned their thoughts away from the race and their individual duels to survival as the fire raised the temperature around them rapidly. Fire and heat were deadly enemies to hot running BattleMechs, with the fire spreading throughout the forested area there was a real danger none of the pilots would escape with their lives.
With a real danger of none of his competitors escaping the fire Duke Alextep deployed three Pion-Laurier Lama-Deux Firefighter VTOL aircraft. Between them the three aircraft dumped nearly forty tons of fire ****** materials on the wooded area coating the Mechs and the trees obscuring almost the entire area in smoke as the fires continued to rage. Staggering clear of the fire the Highlander followed by the Atlas, Templar and Zeus moved into the open and raced away from the forest. Their armour burned and battered none of the pilots seemed interested in fighting instead they continued to run. Behind them the Hauptmann, Black Watch and Sagittaire cleared the burning forests as the Pion-Laurier Lama-Deux Firefighter VTOL aircraft made a second run against the woods, coated in a second run of fire ****** materials the the Hauptmann pilot seemed to have lost all interest in racing instead shooting its Gauss rifle and missiles into the back of the Zeus knocking the lightest Mech of the leading group to the ground. The Black Watch was barely operational its autocannon fused by the fire, it ammunition exploded gutting most of its left side only the OmniMech’s CASE had saved the Mech. The Sagittaire Void Signature System burned out by the fire was still the most operational of the three charged forward chasing the leading pack. As the Hauptmann pilot aimed a shot at the Sagittaire’s back the Mech was swarmed by Elemental Battle Armour forces from the Gorillas. Behind the OmniMech the almost destroyed Black Watch OmniMech surrendered to a group of Gray Death Strike Battle Armour suits eliminating two more competitors to the race.
Ahead the leading Highlander, Templar and Atlas reached the urban grounds of Alextep Minor, the first of two mock towns. Behind them the Zeus pilot had gotten his Mech back onto its feet and was chasing them down the pack while the last Mech, the Sagittaire, was labouring along behind. Reaching the town the Atlas pilot employed the “brute force” approach slamming into the small buildings forcing its way through. It was a spectacular display with no chance of civilian casualties but it was also very slow. The Highlander used its jump jets to clear the first couple of buildings while the Templar pilot avoiding using its own jump jets dodged the buildings entering the streets. All three Mechs engaged each other and the buildings with sporadic weapons fire but for the most part the pilots concentrated on the race. Next into the town the Zeus tried to follow the path of the Atlas ahead of it instead ran straight into a Heavy Gauss Rifle slug and several laser blasts, the lighter eighty ton Zeus took a beating as it staggered into a building. Last but not least the Sagittaire followed closely by six Battle Armour squads reached the town. The MechWarrior tried to follow the Highlander’s path using its jump jets but one of the jets had been damaged by the fire causing it to miss-fire. The Mech spiraled into a building smashing through the brick building losing an arm as it crashed to a rest. As Battle Armour swarmed the ninety-five ton Mech the MechWarrior realized the game was up and surrendered before their Mech was totally destroyed.
The Templar blasted its way clear of the town using its assault autocannon as it continued to race. The Atlas behind it smashed what was left of the last building in its own path of destruction as it also cleared the small mock up town. Finally the half destroyed Zeus followed the other three Mechs clearing the town, the lightest of the three Mechs still racing fired its last functioning weapon a Defiance 1001 Extended Range Particle Cannon catching the Templar in the back staggering the Omnimech. Surprisingly it was the Atlas, not the Templar, which turned and finished off the Zeus with a Heavy Gauss Rifle shot to the centre torso; the gauss slug penetrated the armour and smashed the fusion engine cradled below. Containment failure followed the pilot’s ejection rapidly as the BattleMech’s beating heart consumed it in fire.
The remaining three Mechs staggered into Alextep Major the mocked up buildings were too large to be jumped over so all three Mechs were restricted to a ground race. Darting through the criss-crossed streets the three Mechs engaged in combat as they dueled for position. Because of damage taken from the fire and from the Zeus attack the Templar’s ground speed was restricted putting the lighter Mech at a disadvantage over the other two. As they cleared the mock city’s last building they were lined up Highlander, Atlas and Templar. Still fighting all three continued on the last leg of the race low on ammunition the three Mechs were restricted to their laser weapons putting the Atlas in the fore with its twin Extended Range Large Lasers.
Wanting a pure Mech race until the end Duke Alextep contacted Colonel Evilauthor, commander of the Gorillas, and ordered the mercenary commander to keep his Battle Armour troops within the Alextep Major settlement. As the three MechWarriors pulled away from the mock city they approached the finish line in close formation all damaged too much to fire their weapons the Mechs just ran towards the end none able to out pace the other.
To screaming crowds the HGN-641-X-2 Highlander piloted by MechWarrior Renee Walker crosses the finish line just ahead of the Templar and Atlas which were engaged in a running fist battle until the end to claim second place. With a successful race completed and a winner rewarded Duke Michael Alextep announces that next year he would repeat the event and announces that Colonel Evilauthor had agreed for his Gorilla Regiment to remain stationed on Noisiel as a security force to support the local militia, to help construction crews make the course even more interesting and as Guardians for the next years games.
Inspired by a Tactical Challenge posted by Evilauthor so it get's its own post.
